Rose at the Alameda entrance to Fairmount Cemetery. (Photo courtesy of Sara Martin)

Reader Sara Martin’s rose photos knocked the contest for the TimeLapse Plant Cam outta the park. Just check out this one above, variety unknown, photographed at the Alameda entrance to Fairmount Cemetery. (For more about the next contest, read on.)

And then there’s this one, a Chicago Peace rose, which Sara shot at her friend Barbara’s yard in Boulder. If you know from Peace roses, you know their amazing fragrance. This photo’s good enough to smell.

Chicago Peace Rose

Says Sara: “I can’t take credit for the gardening, only the photography. I live in a condo, so I find vicarious joy in preserving the beauty from other people’s gardens.”

October rosebud; all photos this post by Sara Martin

I’ll leave you with her last shot, of a rosebush planted at Fairmount right next to that knockout red-and-white rose, and a plea for some able rosarian out there to offer a guess on the variety in the comments. Congrats, Sara!

And on to this week’s contest, which I’m carrying over from last week: Win an individual membership to the Denver Botanic Gardens (which you can upgrade inexpensively if you’ve got a family). Big things are happening there; they’ve completed 20 construction projects in the last two years. This summer, the Mordecai Children’s Garden and new greenhouses will open, extending the Gardens’ iconic conservatory with an orangerie (indoor citrus grove) and orchid exhibit. Plus there’s a killer lecture series on food gardening that’s already begun. Members get discounts on virtually everything, right down to a cup of joe in the bistro, and guest passes. And you get to see the Henry Moore sculpture exhibition for free. For more about the Moores, the garden, and all that it offers, check out the Feb. 28 Sunday Denver Post.

What do you gotta do? Send me a recipe (preferably with picture) inspired by your garden, to sclotfelter@denverpost.com. Something simple and easy, like your favorite pesto or dried herb blend or fresh salsa or slaw. I’ll share some of mine throughout the week.

It was standing, gaping, skipping, wandering, and strolling-room-only last Monday at the Denver Botanic Gardens’ free day. OVER FIVE THOUSAND PEOPLE had come through the gates by 4 p.m. (I still got a parking place in the new garage at 1. Pretty cool.)

I was stunned by two things: How many people brought their children; and how awed many of those kids were. One nine-year-old asked a volunteer coordinator, “Where are the pollinators in the Conservatory?” — a great question because there was much in the Conservatory that’s burst into bloom, including this incredible thing called a clock vine, (Thunbergia mysorensis, to you botanists, and you know who you are) which drapes golden, purple-throated orchid-like blossoms down on gossamer stalks to gape right in your face as you walk under a trellis. The answer is that many of the pollinators are ants. And they’re in the Conservatory — you just have to slow down and stay put to watch for them. Staying put, of course, is not something you can try in the midst of a shoulder-to-shoulder free-day crowd, but I’ll try it on another visit.

Another pair of kids, a brother and sister who couldn’t have been long out of kindergarten, stood in awe in front of a five-foot-tall tree yucca. “Wow, Mom, it’s huge,” one said. And then they directed Mom to take a picture — without them even in it.

That’s right, free — this Monday, Feb. 15, is a free day at the Denver Botanic Gardens. Admission is gratis; you pay nada, bupkus, rien, amigos. (fyi: it’s just at the York Street facility, though, not at Chatfield, where admission is still $5 per passenger car, though members get in free).

There’s a lot of new stuff going on at the Gardens, including new buildings, a sale in the gift shop, and a prestigious exhibition of massive Henry Moore sculptures that opens March 8, and — yes — the first tentative beginnings of spring.

It really is coming; I saw the spikes of daffodil shoots outside the University Club in Denver on my way to work today. They looked chilly. But the Gardens says its Easter daisies are blooming, plus some witch hazel, and of course some of the tropical beauties in the Conservatory.

Plus here’s a thought: If you love a plant in the winter, that’s a love that lasts. As with humans — who reveal their true characters are revealed not when everything’s all sunny and happy and they’ve just won Powerball and scored a date with a Rhodes Scholar/movie star/microlending Nobelist/supermodel, but when the plumbing’s backed up and everyone in the house has the flu and it’s 13 degrees — plants show a side of themselves in winter that you’re not going to necessarily see in the catalogs or glamour shots. Garden designs show their bone structures in winter. Take a notebook and write down or sketch what you like. See blooms, take names.

And yes, we ARE all flower-starved. So dig your flower shots out of that digital basement and send them to me at sclotfelter@denverpost.com, and win yourself a Plant Cam. So you can take time-lapse pictures of your flowers (or herbs, veggies and rosebushes). With which you can win more stuff next year. (I’ll post some photos from greener places and warmer seasons to prime the pump). To see the Plant Cam in action, click on that link above — YouTube has lots of video shot with Plant Cams.

Becky Hensley is the co-founder of Share Denver - a community craft space in Park Hill. She's also the proud Ninja-in Chief of the Denver Craft Ninjas -- a women’s crafting collective dedicated to keeping the DIY spirit alive through laughter, shared skills, and cocktails.

Colorado native Mark Montano is an international designer, artist, author and television personality. He has appeared on TLC’s “While You Were Out” and “10 Years Younger,” as well as “My Celebrity Home” on the Style Network, “She’s Moving In” on We TV, “The Tony Danza Show” on ABC, and “My Home 2.0” on Fox.